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Justice for Zachery Anderson Petition

When my son Zach met a girl through an online dating app, she said she was 17 years old and lived about twenty minutes away. The two decided to meet up and had consensual sex. Zach was a typical 19-year-old studying computer science at Community College — until he found out that the girl had lied about her age and was really 14.

Though the girl admitted to lying about her age and even her parents agreed the encounter was completely consensual and that Zach didn’t do anything wrong, Zach found himself convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charges. He’ll now have to be on a sex offender registry for the next 25 years.

He just finished serving 90 days in jail. Now he’s on probation for the next 5 years and he’s lost all of his work toward his computer science degree — part of his sentence is that he can’t use a computer or smartphone or live in a house with internet access. He can’t even talk to anyone under 17.

This has effectively ruined Zach’s life. And it’s clear to anyone who hears his story that he is not a sexual predator who needs to be on a sex offender list for 25 years. He’s a teenager who met another teen like so many others do, online.

In court, the girls parents didn’t just ask the judge to show Zach leniency, they called for the case against him to be dropped altogether.

Zach plead guilty but only because we were told he would be a candidate for Holmes Youthful Trainee Act status. The HYTA allows first-time offenders older than 17 but not yet 21 to avoid harsher penalties like the state-mandated 25-year listing on the sex offender registry.

But the judge refused to listen to us, Zach, or the parents of the girl.

Now Zach must live his life with a scarlet letter. He has to walk down the street and think: ‘Am I too close to a school? Is there a child who’s close to me? It’s not right and it’s not what the law was intended to do.

As parents, all we want is for our son to be able to pursue his dreams and ambitions in life. We want him to be able to live a normal life. So we’re asking that the Judge, the Prosecutor’s office and the MDOC to drop all charges or grant HYTA to Zach. And we need your help.

Please sign our petition to support Zach and say to the Judge, the Prosecutors office and the MDOC that the sentence given here is wrong, harsh, and unfair.

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5 comments for “Justice for Zachery Anderson Petition”

Kayt

July 18, 2015 at 6:39 pm

I’m so sorry that this has happened. The laws do need to be changed.
I wanted to sign the petition but it wanted my address and zip which I don’t want to share. Is there any other way to sign? Why the address and zip?

Scott

July 23, 2015 at 7:35 pm

As I said before. Stay away from ANY dating sites and meet someone in person. Meeting people online is no safe haven anymore.

I feel for Zachs hardhips and I am sorry to hear he has endured such a travesty in his life.
It doesn,t mention what level he was designated but I pray he has no designation. Within his state I encourage him or his parents to find out how long he has to wait for to apply for a certificate of relief or even have his name removed the registry due to hardships.

I would also encourage his parents to get involved in a support group if one is available where they can gain knowledge and help from others who have faced this type of situation.

Will Bassler

July 24, 2015 at 8:16 am

in a recent article in the crime report Robin L. Barton, a legal journalist based in Brooklyn, NY, and a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office talked about the accountability of the girl in this case. In fact for all of persons involved in statutory rape who portray themselves to be older than they really are. The interesting thing that I see is that Robin Barton. Having worked in the prosecutor’s side automatically wants to assign some type of accountability and punishment. Instead of coming to grips with the fact that maybe the state has no business being involved in this. If the people involved choose not to press charges, perhaps as part of the criminal justice reform there should have to be some type of complaint filed against a person by the victim or the victim’s family before an action can be started. People in the prosecutor’s office are too quick to assign blame to anyone and over the past few years we have seen the number of cases where the prosecutors have gone far beyond their legal boundaries, including presenting false evidence or withholding evidence that would either mitigate the situation or end in a jury’s decision to dismiss

Nandiara

July 31, 2015 at 10:38 am

This is a shame. Horrible, horrible country. Not much less than than the uncivilized ones.

Ken

August 3, 2015 at 2:51 pm

So much for common sense by the DA’s office, and the judge, especially! Not since the Salem Witch Trials have we seen such Puritan standards used by our society. My heart goes out to Zach.

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